Booklist
Pitched to visitors, actual or potential, to the Smithsonian's aeronautics museum in D.C., this album connects the artifacts on display with a brief history of air and space flight. Chaikin, whose A Man on the Moon (1994) is a consuming account of the Apollo program, doesn't have quite as much writing room in this predominantly visual celebration, but his captions and narrative are laconically informative, playing up odd facts about the planes. He recounts the Wright brothers' success (to which the Smithsonian can lay minor claim, having given Wilbur some pamphlets on flying--following his assurance he wasn't a "crank"), the flamboyant deadliness of World War I dogfighters, the barnstorming and racing days of the 1920s and 1930s, and the infancy of commercial aviation, the famous DC-3 being its midwife. A few photos, as of the DC-3, show the vehicle in its exhibit hall, but most pictures depict planes or rockets in action, right up through the latest images of the space age--Mars as viewed from Pathfinder. An enthusiast's delight. Gilbert Taylor
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Book Description
"Now in paperback, the spectacular illustrated saga of aviation from the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. Drawing on the peerless collection of the National Air and Space Museum, this magnificent book brings us the story of the conquest of the skies. From the first hot-air balloon to the Wright brothers, the Apollo moon landing, the Mars Pathfinder mission and beyond, Air and Space captures the innovators, discoveries, and adventures of aviation and space flight like no other book. This is the definitive book on one of the world's largest collections of aviation and spaceflight artifacts and memorabilia. Nearly 500 illustrations include Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager's record-breaking X-1, the spacecraft and spacesuits of the first Americans to walk in space, Skylab, the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as other aircraft, rockets, and spacecraft. The National Air and Space Museum is the most visited museum in the world, with more than nine million visitors a year."
